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Schoolchildren demonstrate in Lisbon for climate protection (archive image)
Photo: Hugo Amaral / SOPA Images / LightRocket / Getty Images
Ten days before the global climate strike, an international survey shows how dramatically the climate crisis is affecting young people.
60 percent fear the future and 56 percent believe that humanity is "doomed".
Their worries about climate change affect their daily lives, say 45 percent.
The study with 10,000 participants between 16 and 25 years from ten countries is the largest of its kind to date. It is to appear in the journal Lancet Planetary Health.
The survey was financed by the non-governmental organization Avaaz, and scientists from five universities worked on it.
According to the tenor, young people feel fear, despair and anger.
The climate worries would "greatly affect a large number of young people".
"Fear has to do not only with environmental degradation alone, but also with government policies," said study author Caroline Hickman of the BBC.
The perceived inaction is disturbing.
"Young people don't just read about climate change in the media," said Tom Burke of the E3G think tank, "they see it with their own eyes."
The report also notes that concerns are greatest in countries where the government is doing little to address climate change, such as Brazil and India.
The survey respondents also came from the United Kingdom, Finland, France, the United States, Australia, Portugal, the Philippines and Nigeria.
Fear is also particularly pronounced in Portugal.
There had been devastating forest fires there over and over again in recent years.
A group of young people is currently suing the government to encourage them to do more climate protection.
In Germany, too, such lawsuits are increasingly becoming an instrument used by climate protectors to enforce compliance with targets.
Climate strike shortly before the federal election
On September 24th, "Fridays for Future" and other organizations have called for a global climate strike with actions in almost 80 countries.
In this country, the activists want to increase the pressure on the parties two days before the federal election.
Churches and thousands of companies also take part on the day of action.
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